Lets not get ahead of ourselves. We just traded an overpaid SG with a really good stroke, for an overpaid small forward without one. -Maggette is 32 and needs knee surgery -He was once explosive, this is no longer the case -He racks up a foul every 8 minutes and is a terrible defender -He doesn't know how to pass the basketball

On the plus side, we have shaved 15 million off the salary cap for next year and a $2 million this year. I take it that Joe expects us to be contenders soon, so the pick is really unimportant in my eyes.

There are two ways that this becomes a serious move. 1- He amnesties Charlie Villenueva. This gives us $10m this year (-draft picks+others) to play around with in FA. Or somewhere between 15-20 next year. 2- Another trade occurs for a different player. I'm thinking Prince might be on the block. I consider his production relatively cheap at 8 and other teams might like him.

The timing of this deal is interesting. I'm betting that one or both of these teams is getting ready to do another deal that involves at least one of their 2012 picks. Otherwise, why do this deal now?

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I would argue that this is unlikely to be the case. This years draft gives us a really important piece of a contender team. There is no way we give up that pick. Other members have suggested that a fringe lottery pick is not worth it - that we should trade down - but I am not completely sold on that point.

This, at face value, is a cap space move more than anything else. I personally think that Villenueva now has his head on the chopping block. No team trades for him, and he is not worth his contract. If I were a betting man, I would be suggesting that the Amnesty clause is broken out very soon on him. Pack his spot with Macklin at a tenth of the cost.

“We welcome Corey Maggette to our organization in a transaction that provides us with a veteran scorer and defender in addition to increased roster flexibility moving forward,” Dumars said in a release. “We thank Ben Gordon for his commitment to our organization over the last three years and wish him the best in the future.”